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If a storm blows a tree over onto a power line or an errant construction crew breaks a water main, it will be obvious that what you are being deprived of is an essential service. For years now, the same has been true when your internet service provider suffers an outage and you find yourself booted out of the cyber realm.
Federal law, however, has been slow to see things the same way. But now, with the signing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, high-speed internet access is officially an essential service.
The law’s US$65 billion investment in expanding broadband access has received most of the headlines, but USC Annenberg’s Hernán Galperin explains why “internet-as-essential-service” is at least as significant as the funding. Galperin also spells out what the new law means for closing the digital divide in low-income, minority and rural communities.
Also today:
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Eric Smalley
Science + Technology Editor
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Closing the digital divide requires deploying a lot of fiber-optic cables in rural and low-income areas.
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Hernán Galperin, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act designates broadband internet access as an essential service and targets billions of dollars to close the digital divide.
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Environment + Energy
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Christina Ergas, University of Tennessee
Permaculture – a mashup of ‘permanent’ and ‘culture’ – is a way of doing agriculture that’s inspired by the resilience and biodiversity of healthy natural ecosystems.
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Daniel Craig McCool, University of Utah
A Western scholar proposes allocating water from the Colorado River based on percentages of its actual flow instead of fixed amounts that exceed what’s there – and including tribes this time.
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Science + Technology
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Wendy Whitman Cobb, US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies
Russia destroyed one of its old satellites during a successful test of an anti-satellite weapon. A space security expert explains what this weapon was and the dangers of the expanding debris field.
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Health
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Elizabeth Lanphier, University of Cincinnati ; Shannon Fyfe, George Mason University
The CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine provider agreement prohibits health care professionals from administering the vaccines in people for whom they are not yet authorized or approved. But this departs from longstanding norms.
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Ethics + Religion
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Jeremy David Engels, Penn State; Elaine Hsieh, University of Oklahoma
Cultures around the world say ‘thank yous’ in many different ways. Two communication scholars explain what these expressions can reveal to us.
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Politics + Society
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Linda Fowler, Dartmouth College; Chris Fowler, Penn State
Cracking down on gerrymandering isn’t enough to make elections more competitive.
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Economy + Business
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Rachel Croson, University of Minnesota
Negotiation does not have to be win-lose; it can and should be win-win.
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Education
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Anne Trumbore, University of Virginia
Enrollment in online courses surged during the pandemic. An expert on online learning behaviors shares what to do before, during and after taking a course in order to reap the most benefits.
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Trending on site
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Ian O. Williamson, University of California, Irvine
A record share of workers quit their jobs in September. A human resources scholar explains how this is a trend that predates the pandemic.
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Nathaniel Hafer, UMass Chan Medical School
The two types of COVID-19 tests – antigen and PCR – work in very different ways, which is why one is fast but less accurate and the other is slow and precise.
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Ravindra Palavalli-Nettimi, Florida International University; Jamie Theobald, Florida International University
A fly does some of its digesting outside its body before it even eats any food.
Today’s graphic
From the story, The ‘great resignation’ is a trend that began before the pandemic – and bosses need to get used to it
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